The press conference looked ahead to the Moscow Grand Slam from June 11-15

Moscow, Russia, June 3, 2014 - A press conference devoted to the seventh
edition of the FIVB Grand Slam in Moscow was held on Monday at the multimedia
centre “Russia Today” in Russia’s capital city.

The media meeting was attended by Tournament Director Ilya Volodarskiy as well
as by Russian national team member, Alexander Likholetov, who will replace the
currently injured Yaroslav Koshkarev.
“I am very glad to welcome all journalists and fans to the seventh edition of
the Moscow Grand Slam,” Volodarskiy said.

“This is the seventh consecutive year
that our city is playing host to one of the world’s most important beach volleyball
events. I would like to thank all our sponsors and partners. From year to year
their number is increasing which is good for everyone who is involved in the
tournament.

“This year we are ready to host all of
the best players in the world. Last year the competition was held for the very
first time at the beach sports complex Dinamo and the event got excellent
reviews from the FIVB and all athletes. In our preparations for this edition we
have tried to take into account the remarks of our fans and have improved the
infrastructure. The capacity of the centre court has been increased to 3,500
seats.

“We have also prepared a number of
surprises for our guests, including a draw for free trips to Turkey. The
winners will be able to spend their time in a 5-star hotel with the opportunity
to play beach volleyball. This year the tournament comes by the time Russian
people will have four days off for public holidays, so we are expecting full
stands and we hope that the weather will help us achieve this goal.”

Alexander Likholetov wished Yaroslav Koshkarev a speedy recovery and insisted
on the importance of giving his best performance before the home fans.

“We are all looking forward to the return of Yaroslav, to whom I wish a speedy
recovery. The news that I will be able to compete at the Grand Slam here in
Moscow came quite unexpectedly to me. I am in good shape and we have just won
one stop of the Russian national tour, so I will work on improving the
chemistry with my partner and try to achieve a good result. The fact that we
play at home accounts for extra responsibility for us but it is a very, very
nice feeling. We will try to please the spectators as well as the organisers
with our performance.”

The Moscow Grand Slam will start on June 11 with the qualification round. The women’s
and men’s champions will be decided on June 14 and 15 respectively, with prize
money standing at US$ 800,000.